ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Demonstrations in St. Petersburg over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis took on a calmer tone last night.

What You Need To Know

  • St. Pete police have no plans yet on stopping protesters from blocking roads

  • Police Chief Holloway said their first concern is protester safety

  • Tampa also indicated no plans to address protesters blocking traffic

About 100 protestors peacefully marched on downtown streets yesterday.  

It was a much different seen from earlier in the week when police say protesters lobbed firework mortar rounds at officers, which forced officers to use smoke canisters to clear the crowd.

With the unrest continuing, we asked St. Petersburg Chief of Police Anthony Holloway if the city was considering stopping protesters from blocking roads, which technically, is against the law in most jurisdictions without a proper city permit.

"The city has no plans right now on our next step about blocking traffic," Holloway said. "We really want to see how we can continue to build relationships with the city.  As people tend to block traffic more, then we will look at that.  But our bigger concern is public safety to make sure people get to and from work and the main concern is that the people that are protesting aren't run over."

Unfortunately, several chaotic scenes have been captured in recent days, nationwide, as protesters have blocked city roads and even major highways.

In Minnesota, a tanker driver faces charges after driving on a closed stretch of interstate where protesters were marching.  No protestors were injured, but the driver of the truck sustained injuries from protesters.  Police had the interstate shutdown at the time, but it is unclear if the tanker driver was aware it was closed.

In Tampa on Tuesday night, police say its officers had to stop protesters from running up an exit ramp off I-275 in an effort to shut traffic down there.

We reached out to the City of Tampa to see if it had any plans to address protestors blocking off roads without a permit.

The city did not respond to our request for comment, but during a press conference yesterday afternoon with Police Chief Brian Duggan and Mayor Jane Castor, the city gave no indication it had any plans to address demonstrators blocking roads and shutting down traffic.